SBL PXO

Posted by: Ade Archer on 19 January 2002

What's the best way to get the above checked out. I think one of mine has a loose connection where the speaker lead plugs in. I walked into the room earlier today to turn the system up, since it was quieter than I thought I had it, only to find the right speaker was silent. Moving the speaker cable slightly brought the sound back, but it's obviously not right, so I'd like to get it checked.
Is it best to send it to Naim via a dealer, or direct by mail.

While I'm at it, I considered getting my 82 serviced as it's by far the oldest piece of Naim kit I've got (8-9 years old), and when I got it last year, obviously second hand, I suspected that it didn't sound quite as good as a new one I'd tried in my system shortly before. Given that there have been some updates to the 82 in between mine and a new one I didn't worry about it, given the saving, but I do wonder whether it would benefit from a 'freshening up'.
Anyone had their pre-amp serviced?

Cheers
Ade

Posted on: 20 January 2002 by Steve Hall

I had this problem with my PXO's - one channel was definately quieter than the other, and again, buy twiddling could make it go away.

In my case, if you looked very closely at the speaker terminals, the solder joints had weakened, and they actualy moved. This was on BOTH sides.

Evidently, if you moved the speaker cable, then the contact was improved enough to make you not notice.

My dealer fixed the issue twice, once by fixing the PXO, and secondly by selling me some used kit to allow me to go active into my SBL's

Either way, get it looked at!

Posted on: 20 January 2002 by P

I had the same problem with one of my PXOs too.

In trying to get the cabinets as close to the wall as possible I reckon I must have overstressed the plug entry terminal and caused a break in the signal path. I unscrewed the PXO and allowed it find its own position when moving the speaker back again. Seemed to solve the problem.

Maybe there should be a mention in the owners manual that the PXO might be damaged if unduly stressed whilst positioning the speakers?

Why is NACA5 so user unfriendly anyway?

Posted on: 20 January 2002 by ken c

In my case, if you looked very closely at the speaker terminals, the solder joints had weakened, and they actualy moved. This was on BOTH sides.

i had the same problem only last week when i was forced to use my system passively. it only need resoldering, and simon@infidelity did this for me while i was waiting...

"get it looked at" is definitely the right advice...

enjoy

ken

Posted on: 20 January 2002 by Ade Archer

Thanks All,
I took the PXO off, and found that indeed the speaker terminal had come loose from the main board. I removed the silicon, took the board out and resoldered the plug. I'm now waiting for the silicon to cure (how long should I wait?) before I re-assemble them.
It would appear to be the stiffness of the NACA5 can put stress on the terminals when the speakers are close to the wall. It would be much better if the terminals weren't so close to the floor (or if NACA5 wasn't so stiff).

Any opinions on pre-amp servicing?

Cheers
Ade